


Don't bark, don't bite.

by Nemurenai



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Cats, Dogs, Established Relationship, Living Together, M/M, Pets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 13:51:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19724962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nemurenai/pseuds/Nemurenai
Summary: They can finally have pets in their apartment but Tsukishima says no.





	Don't bark, don't bite.

“This one.”

Kageyama prodded at Tsukishima incessantly with his phone until the blond put his magazine down out of irritation and looked at what was causing Kageyama to be so annoying.

On the screen, a large dog with a sharp features, tall ears and a sleek black coat, a Doberman, if Tsukishima remembered correctly.

He furrowed his brow and looked up at his boyfriend who was lying on the couch behind him, an expectant look on his face.

“What about the dog?”

Kageyama straightened himself, a clear expression of anger crossing his face as he realised that Tsukishima had not heard a single word he had said.

“I want him.” he tapped on the screen, causing the image to zoom right into the dog’s face.

Tsukishima laughed mockingly, “what are you, ten? We can’t just get a dog because you feel like it your highness.” He turned back to flipping through his magazine, leaving Kageyama’s patience to crumble.

“We moved into an apartment that allows pets! Why can’t we have one!?” Kageyama shouted at Tsukishima who had, in his mind, already considered this conversation over.

He sighed, foreseeing the endless argument that would ensue if he chose to ignore the issue, like a speck of mold left to eat away the bathroom tiles. While snapping his magazine closed, he sighed loudly. “Look, for one, we just moved in to this place, we’re not ready for a pet financially. Two, did you forget how any animal, besides Hinata, is deathly afraid of you? “

Kageyama, who was ready to verbally battle it out with Tsukishima, paused to consider, just for a moment, His boyfriend’s reasoning before visibly struggling to come up with a decent response.

“But this dog is cool!” He blurted, earning him a laugh from the blond, “How do you know it’s not afraid of you?” Tsukishima questioned and again, Kageyama was at loss for words.

Tsukishima, confident that he had won this battle, placed his magazine on the table and stretched with a yawn, “Well, I’m heading to bed then, goodnight.” He got up, bending over to kiss Kageyama gently on the forehead before heading to the bedroom.

Kageyama reluctantly accepted the kiss and mumbled goodnight, staring down at his phone screen, his disappointment reflected on it as the backlight of his phone faded to black.

* * *

The rain was incessant with no signs of stopping, leaving Tsukishima with wet shoes and socks and the uncomfortable humidity of the rainy season tugging at his feet. The large umbrella he was holding was doing nothing for the lower half of his body and every few minutes he found himself clicking his tongue out of irritation, remembering that both summer and winter were the bane of his existence whilst considering the idea of hibernating for half the year.

He lengthened his strides, knowing he still had a few streets to go before he was home, wondering whether Kageyama had remembered to set the timer for the air conditioning before he almost fell over something appearing suddenly at his feet.

After regaining his balance he looked back down the street and there, stood a black cat, gold eyes glowing from between matted, wet fur.

"That's dangerous." Tsukishima scolded sharply, as if the animal could understand him. The cat mewed back in response and Tsukishima, somewhat satisfied, he readjusted the grip on his umbrella and resumed his damp journey home.

* * *

Tsukishima hung his blazer on the hook in the hallway, the water dripping onto the floor as the musty heat of the apartment ambushed him and he cursed under his breath.

Kageyama had forgotten to set the timer on the air conditioning, unsurprisingly, but one could have hoped. He propped the door open and proceeded to open the windows to let the damp, outside air into the apartment, hoping a small cross breeze would cool it down through the incessant rain before turning the air conditioning on.

"I'm back."

A voice rang down the hallway as Tsukishima dried himself off with a towel in the bathroom, stripped down to his singlet and underwear.

"It's hot in here! Didn't you turn the air conditioning on?" Muffled complaints had Tukishima rolling his eyes and he didn’t even bother to formulate a reply.

His boyfriend appeared in the doorway, dripping from head to toe and Tsukishima wasn’t surprised that his boyfriend had forgotten his umbrella despite Tsukishima having reminded him multiple times before he had left for work. And despite being a genius setter, remembering little things was one of many that Kageyama was incapable of and Tsukishima was just glad that idiots didn’t catch colds.

The blond picked up the second towel he had with him and threw it over Kageyama’s head, drying the setter’s hair as Kageyama giggled, peeling off his wet spray jacket and pants, gathering them in his arms before heading back out into the hallway.

“Put mine in the wash too your highness." Tsukishima requested as he threw his pile of disgustingly wet clothes at the setter, navigating himself to the bedroom to get them both shirts and shorts and close the windows, listening to the sound of the dripping rain as he did.

* * *

By the time Tsukishima had dropped himself down onto the sofa, turned the TV on and had the air conditioning at full blast it was already close to seven.

Honestly speaking it was a miracle that he, or Kageyama for that fact, had managed to get home so early and that in itself had the blond in a particularly good mood. He hummed under his breath as he waited for his boyfriend so they could make dinner and watch the match that Kageyama had recorded a last night. The one thing that the dark haired boy never forgot to do.

Suddenly the door to the living room burst open and Kageyama ran in breathless, as if he had been sprinting for the past five minutes.

"What’s wr-"

Before Tsukishima could finish his question Kageyama grabbed him by the front of his shirt, a mixture of anger and confusion meshed on his face, tinting his voice.

"You said no!!"

Tsukishima furrowed his brows, "I said what?"

"You said no last night!!" Kageyama repeated himself, voice quivering so much that Tsukishima's concern was growing at an alarming rate.

"I can’t understand what you're saying. Just-"

Kageyama suddenly released the front of Tsukishima’s shirt before taking his hand and leading him down the hall with utter urgency and Tsukishima had figured that Kageyama knew that it would easier to just show whatever it was that was causing him to lose his mind.

“Here.” The shorter boy huffed, pointing at the closed door of the bathroom, positioning himself behind the blonde as Tsukishima cautiously opened the door.

The first thing that he laid eyes on was a mess of a bathroom, bottles strewn across the floor, towels thrown onto the ground, puddles of water over various surfaces.

“Did you do this?” Tsukishima shot over his shoulder and Kageyama replied with a prompt “No.” of denial and indicated at the blond to venture in, sending his boyfriend into the face of potential dangerous.

Tsukishima stepped in, avoiding the mess on the floor to find two golden orbs, staring up at him from inside the bathtub, illuminated only by the light from the hallway.

It was a black cat.

“Did you find it?” Kageyama called from outside and Tsukishima rolled his eyes, their bathroom wasn’t that big to begin with.

“Yes.”

“You said we weren’t allowed to get a pet.”

Tsukishima could imagine Kageyama’s childish pout stretching across his face on the other side of the door and he sighed, “I did. This cat let itself in.”

He shot the cat an accused look and it mewed in response, “time to go.” He bent over and surprisingly, picked the wet cat up with little resistance and kicked the bathroom door open with his foot.

Kageyama peered cautiously as Tsukishima walked out with the cat, held by the underarms far in front of him. Tsukishima never had any particular liking for animals, he thought they were just a lot of trouble and why anyone would keep one was beyond him. 

“Could you open the front door for me?”

“Shouldn’t we dry it off before we send it back out? What if it catches a cold?”

Tsukishima paused and found his boyfriend staring at him with pleading eyes, the emotions from earlier replaced with an excited curiosity. He looked back at the cat in his arms and again at his boyfriend before sighing loudly, “Grab a towel then.”

All he had wanted was to spend the evening relaxing.

* * *

Tsukishima furrowed his brows as the cat purred in his arms, clearly enjoying the cold of the air conditioning on it’s now dry fur, “Can we put it outside now?”

“Wait, before we do, can I pet it?” Kageyama looked at Tsukishima, whose face was dripping with disdain.

“Quick.”

Eyes glimmering, Kageyama seated himself directly in front of Tsukishima, slowly moving his hands towards the cat who was preoccupied with nuzzling itself into the blonds arm. He placed his hand on the top of its head and gently stroked down its back, the cat continuing to purr, undisturbed by Kageyama’s touch.

“We good?” Tsukishima clicked his tongue the moment Kageyama nodded he stood up and started making his way to the front door.

“But-”

Tsukishima stopped and turned on his heel, “It’s eight. We haven’t eaten. I have work tomorrow.”

Kageyama wasn’t quite sure what the time and dinner had to do with the situation at hand, but after being together with the blond for so many years he knew that this specific tone of voice meant he should shut up and not say anything stupid. And according to Tsukishima, almost everything he said was stupid.

And so all he could do was follow Tsukishima to down the hallway and open the door, watching as his boyfriend placed the cat on the ground and shooed it off with a furrowed brow. The cat blinked a few times and mewed, lingering for a moment before scampering off into the night.

The blond dusted himself off and breathed loudly through his nostrils, closing the door and locking it, his eyes darting around the hall as he turned around to confirm the cat hadn’t somehow snuck in again. Satisfied with his patrol, he headed back towards the kitchen and the two made dinner together, the first time in weeks if he was remembering correctly. Whenever they did they always made Kageyama’s favorite, pork curry with hot spring eggs, although Kageyama was lousy at making the eggs and Tsukishima always laughed at him.

Tsukishima watched Kageyama as he gobbled up dinner the moment they had said their thanks he somehow convinced himself that being able to sit down and enjoy a meal with his boyfriend was worth all the trouble earlier in the evening.

“You’re not going to eat Tsukishima?” Kageyama asked as Tsukishima picked up his napkin and wiped the sauce smeared on the corner of his boyfriend’s mouth, “Give me a second your highness.”

* * *

A few weeks passed by without much disruption to their everyday routines and Kageyama had placed all his time and focus into his upcoming match, leaving the house at the some godforsaken hour and coming back at late at night which was not unusual for Kageyama, who loved to spend time practicing until his teammates dragged him off the court. Tsukishima figured that Kageyama’s obsession with getting a pet was merely his highness's temporary infatuation.

But Tsukishima was wrong.

Tsukishima called out as he opened the front door and he could hear clattering down the hallway as he took his shoes off and Kageyama appeared before him. The blond could tell that he was flustered, “What’s happening?” he asked in a warning tone, Kageyama only ever greeted him at the door if he had something he wanted.

“I have something to show you! Close your eyes!” he barked excitedly and Tsukishima was unsure as to whether he could keep his amusement to himself as he obeyed, allowing Kageyama to lead him down the hall by the hand.

“Can I open-”

“Wait…..okay you can open your eyes now.”

Tsukishima slowly opened his eyes and he felt all the breath in his lungs leave his body and he stopped breathing for a moment.

Before him was a dog, sitting up tall, with black, pointed ears and short, sleek black fur. A Doberman. And as they met eyes, Tsukishima felt his mind run blank.

“Tsukishima…..?” Kageyama’s voice seemed ridiculously distant as the blonde felt the surging anger rising in his chest which he desperately tried to keep suppressed.

“Why? I told you we aren’t getting a pet and you go behind my back and do this!?” his own voice sounded foreign, the words falling from his mouth without a second though, “Oh, yes I forgot the King always does what he wants, I get it. ” his breaths were heavy and he wondered whether it was always this difficult to breath.

“Tsukishima I-” there was a glimmer of desperation in Kageyama’s eyes as he reached out to Tsukishima.

“I need some time alone.” Tsukishima breathed, stepping back, away from Kageyama’s reach and ran a hand over his face, realising he had let his feelings get the better of him, “I’m tired.” He mumbled, leaving the room.

Kageyama knew after being together for so long that Tsukishima rarely got upset. They argued a lot but his boyfriend was always relatively in control of his emotions and he was direct with his words. Seeing Tsukishima leave the room after raising his voice stirred a wave of regret in Kageyama. He thought that Tsukishima would be proud that he managed to find a dog that didn’t bite or bark at him, perhaps he was too blinded by his own thoughts to consider his boyfriend’s feelings.

He kneeled down and look at the dog, who cocked it’s head as Kageyama reached out and pulled him close, “Let’s take you out for a walk buddy.” He grabbed the leash that he had in hand along with his phone, putting his jacket on before closing the door behind him.

* * *

Tsukishima pried his eyes open and found himself staring at the ceiling, sprawled out on their bed. He’d fallen asleep.

A feeling of remorse washed over him as he replayed his own words in his head, “But he was the one that bought the dog back.” He muttered to himself. But it wasn’t enough to shake off the frustration.

A mew of agreement came from nearby and Tsukishima sat up immediately to find a black cat quietly sitting on the bedside table.

“Why are you here again? To make fun of my stuff up?” he hissed, glaring at the intruder, “I know I could have just…just ...been happy for him. I know.”

The cat mewed again.

“Yeah, he’s an idiot and he always does whatever he wants and sometimes he makes me feel like I’m working more than ten hours a day but…” he looked into the cat’s golden eyes, “...but I love him.”

The cat mewed sympathetically before jumping onto the bed, rubbing its head along Tsukishima’s leg, rolling onto its stomach and purring loudly.

“Look at this idiot talking to a god damn cat. I really have lost it.” Tsukishima laughed to himself, reaching out to pet the cat on the stomach.

Before he could the cat abruptly stopped and bit him, leaping off the bed onto the floor as Tsukishima swore, blood trickling out from the fresh wound, “This is why I hate animals.” He cursed.

Kicking the door open, he went to clean up the wound and the cat followed, “Don’t follow me!!” he yelled as he washed the blood off, drying his hands and pulling out the disinfectant.

That was when he noticed the house was awfully quiet, only the hum of the air conditioner in the next room over could be heard.

After a quick look around the apartment for the shorter boy, Tsukishima concluded that Kageyama was probably angry and had left to cool off and upon noting the time on the clock he realised that it was almost midnight.

That was when he felt a shiver run like electricity down his spine. Kageyama would go out for walks when he felt like he needed to calm down, but he also hailed sleep as one of the key elements to making sure he was in top condition to play volleyball, meaning Tsukishima would find Kageyama crawling into the bed with him by ten whether they had forgiven each other or not.

The blond pulled out his phone and quick dialed his boyfriend, holding the phone to his ear as he held his breath, two rings, three, four, a click, “the number you have called is either unavailable or in a place that cannot be reached. Please-” Tsukishima clicked his tongue and hung up, dialing again to be met with the same result.

“Pick up the god damn phone you idiot.” Tsukishima murmured through gritted teeth. But there wasn’t any luck.

After a few more tries Tsukishima decided it was best to stop wasting his time and search for his boyfriend himself. Grabbing his keys and his phone he pulled open the door, met with the hot, humid summer air, accompanied by ceaseless rain. He clicked his tongue and picked up an umbrella that was by the door, oulling it open and sprinting out into the night.

* * *

There were no more trains running at this time most of the houses in the neighborhood had called it a day and turned their lights off, leaving the roads eerily dark. The sound of the rain mingled with heavy breaths as Tsukishima ran. He didn’t know where to look anymore, he was just running.

He had gone to all the places they frequented together, the bathhouse, the nearby convenience stores, the izakaya next to the bank, in the park along Kageyama’s regular running trail, tracing it around the neighborhood all the way back home. But there wasn’t a single person in sight, not in the pouring rain. Logically speaking there wasn’t any way for Kageyama to get to Hinata’s place since he hadn’t taken his wallet or any of his cards and a quick call confirmed Tukishima’s thoughts. As he pulled the phone from his ear a part of him had wished that Hinata had told him, yes, that Kageyama was there. He looked at his phone, hoping that by some miracle, Kageyama would call back, eyes falling on the peeling band aid on his hand.

There was a tug at his pants and Tukishima looked down, eyes falling upon familiar golden eyes, staring back at him. A mewl from the sodden cat.

“What do you want…?” Tsukishima laughed into his hands, he was tired and worried and if he could bring himself to cry, he would.

The cat mewed and stopped, staring out into the road before them and Tsukishima followed its gaze, but all he could see were the glow of streetlights, blurred by the falling rain.

But he heard it. It was faint, but he heard it. A dog, barking in the distance.

Tsukishima broke into a sprint, running towards the sound that lead him to the park where he had searched earlier. And before long he managed to spot a black dog in the rain, barking alone loudly in a clearing surrounded by trees..

“Kageyama!?!” He yelled, hopefully into the rain, and as he ran up to the dog it began tugging at the edge of his t-shirt, “You know where Kageyama is?”

The dog pulled again before letting go, as if to say “follow me!”, sprinting off into the trees and without a second thought the blond followed.

* * *

They stopped at an area of the park where the river fringed the park, lined with rocks and overgrown plants, dark and unlit, and Tsukishima could feel the dread flood his chest as the dog pawed at a lit up object on the ground which he picked up, it was Kageyama’s phone.

“Kageyama!” He yelled desperately and repeatedly into the dark, followed by barking from the dog beside him. The downpour of heavy rain made it hard to hear anything, but even without the rain the blood rushing through his hears and his pounding heart would have deafened him.

He felt another tug at his shirt and when he looked down the dog barked again and something told him that he had to keep pressing on. Looking about he noticed that the ground away from the trail was uneven.

Tsukishima fumbled with his phone and after struggling with his wet fingers on the screen, had his flashlight on to shine into the surrounding areas. The rain was still heavy but he managed to spot a sliver of bright orange along the riverbank.

He scrambled towards it, almost tripping over the rocks and dodging branches of trees before pulling himself to an abrupt halt. The ground had given way to form a small cliff by the river where the rain had washed away the dirt, the orange Tsukishima has seen earlier was a person’s parker.

“Kageyama!!” He gasped, he shone his torch down the cliff side, finding his boyfriend looking up at him.

“Tsukishima… you found me.” His laugh was tired, weak.

“Don’t worry I’ll get you up okay… here grab my hand!” Tsukishima reached out and Kageyama took it, “I can’t push myself up… I think I pulled something in my leg…”

“Just shut up.” Tsukishima hissed through gritted teeth summoning all the energy his tired body could muster, pushing against the sodden ground he managed to pull Kageyama up and into his arms, where they lay gasping in the drizzling rain and Tsukishima wished that his boyfriend wasn’t made of ninety-nine percent muscle.

“I went for a run…and I tripped and fell down here.” Kageyama mumbled after a long while.

“Well, you’re an idiot.”

“I know. You always tell me that… ”

There was something comforting about feeling the rise and fall of Kageyama’s chest in his arms and Tsukishima closed his eyes, letting the rain hit his face.

“…but I knew you’d find me.”

“…who even thinks that? You really are an idiot. Stupid, single celled organism.”

“But you love me, idiot glasses.”

“…maybe.”

“What do you mean _maybe_?!” Kageyama pulled himself away.

A bark broke up the argument that was about to pursue and both of them looked up to find the dog, happily wagging its tail.

Tsukishima pushed Kageyama off and scrambled to his feet, remembering why this had all happened in the first place. He did his best to pull a face of disdain and crossed his arms.

“I still haven’t talked to you about _this_.” He pointed at the dog, who barked and wagged its tail.

Kageyama couldn’t think of anything to say, but instead made a difficult face.

Tsukishima laughed, pulling Kageyama up, “We’ll talk this over at home after we get dried up… you too.” he looked at the dog and Kageyama’s face lit up as if he had been invited to play volleyball.

“Does that mean-”

“No it doesn’t. If you don’t shut up I’ll throw you back down there.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

* * *

“No.” Tsukishima replied firmly, “He is not allowed on the bed. We may have adopted him but it doesn’t mean he can do whatever he wants.” He warned sharply with Kageyama kneeling at his feet, the dog sitting quietly beside him, tail thudding softly on the floor.

Kageyama pouted, “P-please…..”

“I said no. Both of us already have trouble fitting on the bed as it is!” He crossed his arms and glared as Kageyama stared up at him with the biggest puppy eyes he could muster but Tsukishima wasn’t going to fall for it.

“Fine.” Kageyama snapped, “I’ll just sleep on the floor then.”

“Hah, you do that then your highness.” Tsukishima smirked, knowing he had won, turning to head to bed to sleep on his victory.

“Tsukishima!!”

Kageyama chased the blonde to the bedroom, dog in tow, almost crashing into Tsukishima who was stationed by the entrance as he hurtled into the room.

On the bed, centred in the middle of the blankets was a black cat, curled into a perfect circle, sleeping, the fan stirring the it’s short fur each time it blew past.

Kageyama felt a grin sliding across his lips, “Oh, what was this about no pets on the bed huh?”

“…I’ll get her off.”

“I’ll wait.” Kageyama gave the dog beside him a scratch behind the ears as he eyed Tsukishima approach the bed slowly, crawling onto it and poising himself to lift the cat, hands hovering over the animal.

“…fine. The dog can sleep on the bed.” Tsukishima sighed, and Kageyama wished his boyfriend was facing him so that he could see the blonds look of frustration. But instead he opted to wrap his arms around Tukishima’s waist and resting his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder.

“Thanks, Tsukishima. I love you.” he chimed kissing the blond on the ear.

“…I figured that a long time ago your highness.” Kageyama felt a hand slide over his, “Let’s go to bed.” He decided that there had been enough teasing for a night and let go, Tsukishima crawling around the cat to slip himself between the sheets.

“You good?”

“Mmm.”

The lights turned off and Kageyama pet the bed to beckon the dog over, who jumped up and nestled himself next to the cat. Kageyama stopped to let his eyes adjust in the dark, gazing at his boyfriend and their newly adopted pets curled up on the bed and he could feel a warmth bubbling in his chest. He pulled himself into the sheets, smiling to himself as he laid his head onto the pillow.

“Goodnight.”

Kageyama blinked as Tsukishima leaned in and gave him a kiss, the smile on Tsukishima’s face brighter than any light Kageyama had seen, even in the dark.

“Good night. My King.”

**Author's Note:**

> This is a lot longer than I normally write and you can probabaly tell where I lost motivation then picked up pace again. I apologise for that. But I managed to post it! It's definitely not my best work but if you do enjoy any part of it that would make me happy!
> 
> Thank you for reading!


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